We hope you all had a good Christmas. The picture at the top of the page is of a chapel we walked to today (Boxing Day), like almost every chapel and church we have been to it was closed.
The churches might be closed but we were pleased to find a bar open in the town square at lunchtime on Christmas Day so we thought we had better support it. We have never spent Christmas somewhere warm and sunny before and this year was no exception. It is warm but today it rained.
I have commented on previous blog entries about our hotel which I assumed was part of a commercial chain, I was wrong. Paradores de Turismo de España is a company founded as a means to promote tourism in Spain, with the first hotel opening in 1928. The hotels are often located in adapted castles, palaces, fortresses, monasteries and other historic buildings thereby helping to support their upkeep. It feels like staying in a National Trust stately home, the various lounges are furnished in keeping with the building. There are a couple more in the Canaries so we might try another one later in the holiday. A few pictures of ours below.
We have been keenly following the covid scores for the islands which, like the UK, are announced every day. Yesterdays results showed no new cases in La Gomera but 116 in Tenerife. Before we arrived we had to register with the authorities and a great fuss was made of a QR code we were both given and we expected this to be scanned everywhere we went. It has not been asked for in the 18 days since we arrived nor do any restaurants or bars ask for contact details which seems odd.
On the other had the authorities seem to be better at chasing outbreaks, Thursdays announcement said;
“Of the 30 outbreaks registered in the past week, 20 have occurred in Tenerife, 8 in Gran Canaria, one in La Palma and one in Fuerteventura. By source in which they have occurred, 21 are family outbreaks, four are social gatherings, four work and one was reported at the Dr. Negrín University Hospital in Gran Canaria with five people affected (three patients and two staff).”
They are also testing sewerage water, a school showed evidence of the virus in their waste water so all the pupils and staff are being tested. I suppose being islands it is easier to trace people and close down an area, the islands are each 40 or so miles apart so people don’t commute between them on a daily basis.
You have to wear a mask at all times outside your home so our faces will be tanned except for a white area around out noses and mouth. In practice on the hills all the walkers put their masks away but as soon as you see someone approaching everyone scrambles to don their protection. I forgot to put mine on when getting out of the car at a petrol station and the attendant quickly reminded me, apparently the police are hot at fining non mask wearers.
The picture above shows a lighthouse close to the hotel with Mount Teide on Tenerife in the background, 40 miles away so we are safe from the very high incidence of covid on the island which is in lockdown. The main ferry company (Fred Olsen) only go from La Gomera to La Palma via Tenerife which would have upset our plans as you have to go ashore to change ships but fortunately a very old boat goes directly so tomorrow we will catch it across to the capital, Santa Cruz, where we have booked a very modern looking apartment in the city centre overlooking the beach.